Plastic Classic Forum

keelbolts

If you are a sailmaker, you certainly know more about this than I do. I was just operating on my 'gut' anyway. Now, if I have sail questions, I know who to contact.

keelbolts

I noticed that. Wearing ship is not just for square riggers anymore. I often wear ship in my boat if it's really blowing. Saves a lot of wear & tear on the boat and my nerves.

keelbolts

I'm not an engineer, but my time in architecture, years ago, cause me to believe that spreading the load along the boom causes it to act differently than focusing the loads at three points. Invert the forces and think of it as a beam. Would you rather spread the load out along the beam or stack it a...

keelbolts

Sorry. Looks good to me too. Break out the saw...

keelbolts

As an aside, when I started working AutoCad the manual was a single 3 ring binder with xeroxed copies of typed instructions. Last time I saw one, an AutoCad 'manual' filled a whole shelf.

keelbolts

I would be wary of a loose-footed main with a mid-sheeted boom. With three point loads on it, in the right conditions, that boom is really going to want to fold. I once broke a substantial gaff that way.

keelbolts

I'm always surprised by how little the language of the sea has changed in 200 years. Some of the spellings have changed a little, but most of the definitions in that dictionary that seem so foreign are those that pertain to a square-rigged vessel. I guess it's a testament to how little, as sailors, ...

keelbolts

I've been out of the business of architecture for almost 15 years now so much has probably changed, but I remember DataCad as being fairly good and inexpensive. I went from AutoCad to InterGraph, I believe it was called. InterGraph was GAWDAWFUL. I quit the firm after only 5 or 6 months rather than ...

keelbolts

Small stuff with a bowline & a midshipman's hitch works like a champ, won't shoot over the side, won't snag anything, and (perhaps my favorite) is SIMPLE. I work part-time at West Marine & I'm always amazed at the stuff people will buy to do what a knot or a one cent piece of rope will do. A...

keelbolts

So put on some runners. I have them on Favona and they're not a problem. Also, they help keep your headsail's luff straight and provide a backup support for your mast, should you loose a shroud.

keelbolts

How 'bout a gaff cutter? The bowsprit and increased sail area forward should reduce your weather-helm and the gaff main will give you much more power in light airs. Contrary to popular belief, a gaff main will take you upwind almost as good as a jib-headed main. Further, it will kick butt going down...

keelbolts

Our winters here on the Chesapeake Bay are, compared to what a lot of you have to deal with, are a breeze, but they are still too cold and wet to do much to the outside of our boats. I envy you who can call the guys with that hydaulic trailer rig to pick up your boat at the marina and bring it home ...

keelbolts

s/v Groovy,
I like to anchor out, but I guess Hawaii is mostly high rises near the shore. Winds should be flukey sailing in and out of those 'condo islands'.

keelbolts

Holy Cow! Is that a beautiful boat, or what?! As for the colors, I can see where you'd have a problem making up your mind. You can't go wrong w/ white, but a deep red is also nice. Woodenboat magazine had an article on a Herreshoff Rozinante that was done in that deep red & she had a very rich l...

keelbolts

Try http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/vbb/worono ... ssary.html

keelbolts

I've seen guys clean bronze by letting it sit in a bucket o' vinegar. I wonder if you could pour vinegar into the top of a frozen seacock and let it sit to free it up?

keelbolts

I believe jealousy also plays a part. If you have paid a gazillion bux to see the water from your condo, aren't you p****d when some yahoo in a $5,000 boat comes along and has the same view? ...and we haven't even gotten into their jealousy over the fact that, in order for them to be able to keep up...

keelbolts

If I said what I really think about insurance companies, Tim would have to delete my post. Years ago, after I had had Allstate insurance on Favona for about a year and a half, they called to say they needed a survey. I told them that January was not a good time for a haulout, but I would get them a ...

keelbolts

It's been some years since I read the Pardey's account of the storm at Cabo San Lucas, but the lesson I took away from it was that many people are cruising on boats that are too big for them. As I recall, several couples got a costly lesson in the size of crew required to sail a 50 foot boat. Boats ...

keelbolts

Don, you don't mess around. That's one way to get at an engine. I hope you're not a surgeon.

keelbolts

I'd say it's all but impossible to build a boat that will stand up to anything the sea can throw at you. Pick a good boat, take reasonable precautions, take the right safety gear (series drogue, sea anchor, etc.), choose a good weather window, say a prayer, and go. The Smeetons, in a 50-some foot bo...

keelbolts

Nobody is worried about not allowing movement where the one side of the hull meets the other so why is anything less then an inflexible joint OK where the topsides meet the deck? I suspect that the whole fastener/sealant hull to deck joint came about as a result of cheap and easy manufacturing metho...

keelbolts

Triton318, A decent toerail is a nice thing to have on a boat and a bulwark is even nicer as it does contribute to a sense of being safe on deck, but if you are going offshore THE only thing that is likely to keep you with your boat is a harness. I flew SAR in the USCG for seven years & I can te...

keelbolts

Jackstays & a harness will do the job. It's the only rig that will keep you with the boat and you can stow them below when you don't need them so you don't have to make your boat look funny.

keelbolts

When he cold-molded Curlew, Tim Carr did something that I thought was very nifty. After setting the fasteners to the desired depth. he went over the entire hull with a drill with a collar set to a depth equal to the thickness of the laminations he planned to apply. Then, all he needed to do to plane...

keelbolts

Do a search for keelbolts and you'll get a lot of info quickly. I remember being involved in some of those threads. I had some questions myself. You'll want to see what Tim and several other knowledgeable guys had to say. I've been all over the internet and, especially if you have a Triton, there is...

keelbolts

It looks like the decision has been made, but, for future readers, I want to toss in my two cents worth. I have been a steward to a wooden boat for almost 20 years and I now own a plastic boat. I won't lie - I got the plastic boat because the wood one is so labor intensive. Wooden boats only make se...

keelbolts

I think in terms of repainting my topsides each year, so a graphic scheme like that one looks like waaay too much work. It's interesting though. Don't you get just a tiny bit bored with the marinas full of white and blue boats? ... and this coming from a guy who only has white rope on his boat. Not ...

keelbolts

Maybe it's God's way of telling you to take a break...

...maybe it's just time to buy a new sander. Sometimes it's hard to tell.

keelbolts

West System has a plan for a sanding board. I'd imagine you could find it on their website. As mentioned in other posts, it's just some plywood and a couple of handles - knobs will work. Rip a sheet of sandpaper into 3 sections, the long way, and spray it with some Repositionable Artist's Adhesive a...

keelbolts

The mizzen staysails I'm familiar with are flown flying from the mizzen truck forward to the leeward side deck or toerail. Are you sure that thing in the photo is also called a staysail? Perhaps they call anything flown between the mizzen & main masts a mizzen staysail? William Snaith, of Figaro...

keelbolts

I replaced Favona's standing rigging about 10 years ago w/ Sta-Locs. They are easy to install and I've had no problem with them. I found that cutting the wire with a Dremel tool, using one of the thin red cutting discs, resulted in a perfectly clean cut without disturbing the wire's lay. Wear eye pr...

keelbolts

I replaced the standing rigging on Favona about 10 years ago. I used Sta-Loc terminals, a little stainless steel ruler, and a Dremel tool with a bunch of thin red cutting discs. It wasn't hard at all. I tripped across a place that claims to be able to wash sails and put the sizing back into them. I ...

keelbolts

I didn't use it on the decks, just the topsides. I figured that, on a white, vertical surface, temps wouldn't get high enough to damage the 410 . I have had no problem with it over a period of almost 20 years (in spite of not washing the blush off properly). I hope you'll do as well.

keelbolts

Sorry to hear about your uncooperative primer. I had a similar problem recently and hated life for about a day. I don't think it's just me, but, while I love a beautiful paint job, I don't enjoy painting and sanding enough to do it for no good reason. Whenever I feel unhappy with my boat progress I ...

keelbolts

I'm helping a friend fix up an old Cat 22 and was reviewing info on deck work on your Glissando site & on Dasein688's site. I must have skimmed over the wash after fairing step. I think we'll go with a single laminate of 10 oz cloth on the Catalina. I always washed after sealing w/ epoxy, but I ...

keelbolts

I have a quick question concerning the removal of the waxy blush from cured epoxy. We know we have to remove the blush from an epoxy coated surface if we want anything else to stick to it reliably. (West Sys says it's not necessary when using the special hardener for applications that are to be clea...

keelbolts

Nice start. Are your sails a classic color material? They have that off-white cotton look that looks so good on a classic boat

keelbolts

They had an Alberg 35 in the same class as a Lightning?! There's definitely something I don't understand about that. That's a little like racing a Buick against a Mini Cooper, particularly in light airs.

keelbolts

LazyGuy, Thanks for your generous description of the Westerly as duckie. Duckies are, at least, cute. We actually considered, briefly, the name Ducky because we also thot she looked a bit ducky. In truth, I don't think she is noticeably homelier than most of the new plastic boats seen in marinas tod...

keelbolts

Sounds like the voice of experience.

Thanks for the warning.

keelbolts

Well, I did it. I added Penetrol to Brightside. Several people I talked to said they used it with good results and no problems. The learning curve on this, my first plastic boat topsides job, was steeper than I had expected. My wife & I have been painting wooden boats each year for almost 20 yea...

keelbolts

Thanks

keelbolts

I read here that the WC Tritons have deadlights that are simply plexi overlapping fiberglass. What's the best thing to bed them in?

keelbolts

#218,
You referred to using John Deere tractor paint. Are you referring to the color or does JD sell a paint. I guess, as many tractors sit out in the weather, a JD paint would have to be pretty good stuff.

keelbolts

dasein668,
Very nice. Located properly and elegant in its simplicity. So much better than what I've been doing. I see a ring in my future.

keelbolts

Tim, Yes, that would be Ray Pike. He's a great guy with a 50-some foot, not counting the 10-foot bowsprit, gaff ketch built on the West Coast in 1915; a small ship more than a big boat. He kept her down here for a while, but a 9-foot draft keeps you out of most of the bay so he took her back north. ...

keelbolts

Man! Talk about luxury living on the waterfront!

A friend of mine is the Harbor Master across the river from Newburyport. He lives on Rings Island, but I don't remember what the other side is called.
Newburyport is very nice & just a hop, skip, & a jump from Maine.

keelbolts

Thanks, Tim, for that info. I didn't know acetone was so relatively benign.

I've tried mineral spirits to clean up my tools as I'm epoxying, but not alcohol. I imagine denatured alcohol would work. If nothing else, vinegar is cheap and, often, in the pantry.

keelbolts

I know few people still do it, but on a sloop your flag, when under way, should be flown at your gaff or at about the same height on your main if it's jib-headed. I can't imagine it would do much for your sail shape if you're not gaff rigged. Having said all of that, mine ends up tied to my backstay...

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